Kids

Focus-Mushrooms

Mushrooms are actually fungi and "fungi" means more than one fungus. Eww! Should you eat a fungus? Yes, when it's an edible mushroom, like the shiitaki mushroom shown in the photo.

They're low in calories and they're good for you. Mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins and the minerals potassium and selenium.

Mushrooms can be eaten raw or cooked. Try them on your salad, your pizza, in your soup, or your Chinese meal.

While mushrooms are grouped in the vegetable category, they're different. They don't grow from seeds, they grow from microscopic spores. The spores must get all the nutrients they need from the compost they're planted in — rich brew that can include straw, corn cobs, cotton seed and cocoa seed hulls, gypsum and nitrogen supplements. Later, peat moss (a rich brown soil) is added. At the market, you might see a trace of peat moss left on your mushrooms. Wash before eating and enjoy!